My prior U.S. Pat. N. 4,742,389 entitled "Apparatus for Promoting the Vigilance of a Motor Vehicle Operator" taught a technique for display of a video program of moving visual images to the driver of a ground vehicle while operating the ground vehicle. In accordance with the teachings of that patent, the visual display, having a size which is a small fraction of the total windshield area, is presented on the windshield of an automobile at a position slightly above the line of sight of the driver toward the direction of travel of the automobile. This does not interfere with the visual task of operating the automobile. On the contrary, it has been found that in some occasions this display actually enhances the attention of the driver to the visual task of operating the automobile.
The present invention is an improvement on this prior invention which enables presentation of the visual image to only a single eye of the driver. It has been found that the operator of a ground vehicle can still enjoy the visual program when presented to a single eye. This presentation of the image to a single eye of the user enables the mirror employed to be smaller than would be required to present the image to both eyes. This results in a smaller area of the windshield being blocked by the apparatus. In particular, the display is so small that it never simultaneously blocks the view of both eyes to objects located outside of the vehicle. These aspects of the invention serve to increase the safety of the apparatus.